Books Blog : copenhagenhttp://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/tags/copenhagen/default.aspxTags: copenhagenenCommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Build: 30619.63)"The Quiet Girl" by Peter Hoeghttp://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/2008/12/13/quot-the-quiet-girl-quot-by-peter-hoeg.aspxSat, 13 Dec 2008 17:53:00 GMT9a7b961d-7882-4302-b701-732ca0e566f2:962MediaPhile@evpl0http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=962http://evpl.org/community/blogs/books/archive/2008/12/13/quot-the-quiet-girl-quot-by-peter-hoeg.aspx#comments<p><img width="155" src="http://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=III21&amp;Password=BT0005&amp;Return=T&amp;Type=L&amp;Value=9780374263690" alt="quiet girl" height="201" style="float:left;" />If you read literary fiction, you <strong>might</strong> want to pick up &quot;The Quiet Girl.&quot;&nbsp; </p>
<p>Danish author Peter Hoeg&#39;s first novel,&nbsp;&quot;Smilla&#39;s Sense of Snow,&quot; is one of my&nbsp;all-time favorites. All his novels since then have sounded rather weird, and this one&nbsp;also fits that bill.&nbsp; Reading it is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without having any idea of what the final picture will look like.</p>
<p>That said, this novel is worth the effort.&nbsp; It does for sound what &quot;Smilla&quot; did for snow --&nbsp;in fact, one reviewer joked that&nbsp;it&nbsp;should be called &quot;Kaspar&#39;s Sense of Sound.&quot;&nbsp; But it also, like&nbsp;&quot;Smila,&quot; takes us into mystical new realms of being and&nbsp;thinking.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The main character is Kaspar Krone.&nbsp; Kaspar is a world-renowned circus clown and accomplished violinist who has a gambling adiction and unwise spending habits that have left him deeply in debt and about to be arrested.&nbsp; He also has an uncanny hearing ability (developed during an episode of blindness as a child) that has led to a secondary career doing&nbsp;music therapy with children.&nbsp; He is hired by an order of nuns to track down the &quot;quiet girl,&quot; one of a number of children who have special powers.&nbsp; All sorts of daredevil action results, and&nbsp;the end leaves us begging for a sequel.</p>
<p>&quot;Marie Claire&quot; Magazine wrote, &quot;(read it) because the kooky conceit frames a smart-but accessible look at the Big Questions, and the cinematic story will no doubt be made into a movie -- we hope starring Johnny Depp.&quot;&nbsp; Well, number one, if there is a movie and it stars Depp, count me in.&nbsp; Number two, translating this into&nbsp;a movie will be an accomplishment second only to that&nbsp;of putting Jonathan Safron Foer&#39;s &quot;Everthing Is Illuminated&quot; on film.&nbsp; And, three, I hope a movie version&nbsp;unravels the plot without&nbsp;decimating it.</p>
<p>Like &quot;Smilla,&quot; the atmosphere and ambience of this Copenhagen-set&nbsp;novel&nbsp;stick with you after you put it down.&nbsp; If you&#39;re brave, give it a try.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://evpl.org/community/aggbug.aspx?PostID=962" width="1" height="1">reviewsfictionmysticismpeter hoegcopenhagenthe quiet girl